A WALES bowls player punched a man so hard his victim lost an eye, a court heard yesterday.

Mark Anthony Heath, 31, was found to have part of his eye hanging down his cheek when police arrived at the scene.

The eye had to be removed completely, Mold Crown Court was told, and the victim had now been left "an emotional wreck".

The attacker was Wales bowls player Mark Tudor Jones, 25, of Pendinas, Caersws, who had never been in trouble before.

He admitted an unlawful wounding charge and was jailed for two years.

Judge John Rogers QC - who watched a CCTV recording of the incident in Wesley Street in Newtown - told Jones, "When he went down and was defenceless, you knelt over him and you used your right fist to punch him repeatedly to the face.

"You must have known that you were damaging him or putting him at risk of facial damage. Others tried to pull you off. Eventually they succeeded.

"You tried to go back and continue the attack. Fortunately others intervened.

"Your victim has lost his eye. This offence is so serious that only a prison sentence is appropriate."

The victim was in hospital for 11 days after the assault and had to have three operations - the final one to remove the eye.

It was expected that by now he would have had a further operation to put in a false eye.